Tumut slogged out another tough win at a muddy Twickenham to move up to fourth place on the Group Nine ladder.
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The Blues went around Albury after their 18-4 victory on Saturday.
Tumut dictated terms for the majority of the clash, and it took the Thunder 70 minutes to break their defensive line.
It was the big positive for co-coach Zac Masters as the Blues look to overcome their worst start in five seasons.
"I thought our defence was really good," Masters said.
"In two games now let four points. It was a little bit of a lapse on the wing at the end but other than that I think our defence has really improved.
"We've worked on that and the effort has been there as always but now we're just starting to piece it together now that we've got a few people back on the paddock."
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In a clash with plenty of feeling, tempers threatened to bubble over on a number of occasions.
Tumut finished the game with only 11 men with Jordan Anderson and Lachlan Bristow giving their marching orders with three to play, alongside Thunder hooker Kieren Ford, after an Anderson tackle sparked another clash between the two sides.
While it was another good defensive effort, the points still aren't flowing for Tumut.
Their 18 points was just above their average score for the season but Masters is confident their attack is there, it's just not being helped by a muddy surface at Twickenham.
"It's just good to get the two points in pretty ordinary conditions," he said.
"It's the same as last week - we probably didn't execute as well as we would have liked and there were plenty of opportunities we left on the field.
"We probably could have won by more but hopefully we get onto a dryer track next week and we'll see what we can do then as it's just so hard to score points in these conditions.
"Even to get a bit of traction to try to drive over the line as when you get into contact you lose your feet and lose all your grip."
However Tumut scored more than enough points for the Thunder.
The Blues opened the scoring after four minutes as Mitch Ivill found himself in plenty of space.
Tumut had a couple more good opportunities to score but it wasn't until Joe Roddy swooped on a Lachlan Bristown grubber kick that they were able to double their advantage.
Brayden Draber finished off some enterprising play from Malik Aitken and Dean Bristow to make it 18-0 three minutes into the second half.
The Blues were on track for a second straight shutout before Anderson had a clearing kick charged down before spreading it wide for Jade Duroux to score in the corner.
The win sees the Blues move a point clear of the Thunder and four ahead of Kangaroos and Brothers in the battle for finals spots.
Tumut can add to that advantage when they tackle Brothers at Equex Centre on Sunday.
The Wagga side scored the first of only their two wins when the two teams met earlier in the season.
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